Today felt like it was a long day. You'd spent a good chunk of it shopping for clothes, which is sweet. Now you have enough outfits to work with just about any scenario, and you didn't need to spend a ton of money to do it. And best of all, you got to punch a racist in the face with no–
Oh, wait, a text?
"Please report to my office as soon as possible. Bring Ms. Belladonna as well," you receive from Ozpin's number. Of course, you were probably the only one of the students to have him on your contacts, but it'd been a long time since he texted you directly. After your start-up and school beginning, you hadn't needed him for anything specifically, and he communicated your work schedule through email. So… Damn, that meant you were in trouble.
Damn. You'd just gotten comfortable in your room… Oh, well. Though you were justified, you did attack someone. Ozpin knew you and the kind of person you were, though, so some small explanations might help. You really hope Glyn– Ms. Goodwitch wouldn't be there; she's a lot less easy to talk to, plus she doesn't exactly care for you seeing as you used her cape as a loincloth. She's a bad mix of scary and super hot, too, which makes it hard for you to speak.
You send Ozpin a text saying, "Understood," and set out. Leaving your lonely room, you start the walk to RWBY's dorm, hoping Blake will be there. You… wait, you still don't have her number? Sure, you weren't dating or anything, but she was your friend. Probably not the best time, though. You do have Yang's number, seeing as she's so personable and friendly. Maybe she'd know where she is, but you're already heading towards her room.
A few minutes later and you knock on RWBY's door. You're quickly answered by Ruby. "Oh, hey! What's up?"
You peek past Ruby to see if Blake is in her room. Scratching the back of your head, you say, "So you when I punched that guy at the mall?"
"yeah that was like two hours ago."
"Well… Ozpin wants to see me in his office. And Blake."
"That's to be expected…" Blake says, closing a book. She gets up and walks over to the door. 'Scuse me, Ruby." Ruby moves out of the way and lets her through. "I guess we're partners in crime now."
"How could this happen!?" Yang calls from her bunk, giggling. "I thought we raised you to stay in line, but now you're a DELINQUENT! Boohoohoo!" she whines sarcastically.
"Thank you, Yang," Blake says, dryly.
"I'll vouch for you if you tell him they were pedos! Have fun~"
"Thank you, Yang," Blake says, dryly.
You and Ruby snicker. Blake closes the door before Yang can come up with a snappy retort and starts leading the way to Ozpin's office.
"How can I face my parents again?" Blake waxes, over dramatically putting a hand to her head. "Knowing I'm a crass beast that gets sent to the headmaster's office, I say!"
You laugh again. "You're taking this well."
"And you aren't? I don't care if I get in trouble; we did a good thing."
"Yeah, but it doesn't feel like that when we have to turn in a paper. In fact, ON PAPER, I beat a dude's face in."
"One making racist comments and, while maybe a bit exaggerated by a certain blonde, he was grabbing at a child. If you get taken to court, everyone's gonna be on your side."
"I bet Ozpin agrees with you, to be honest. If we were really in trouble, Glynda would have sent me something."
"About that, actually. Did Ozpin contact you specifically? How?"
"He has my number since I work in the office. And no, I don't text our headmaster unless he's telling me about a schedule or something."
"Aww, I was imagining you and him texting each other about girls and sports or whatever else men like."
"I really don't want to talk about girls with a guy… wait, how old is Ozpin?"
"He looks anywhere between 30 and 60 with that white hair, but I don't exactly know. He feels old."
"Whatever. I don't exactly want to talk with him about girls or sports."
"But what if he was actually like, 20 and just looked old?" Blake smirked.
You consider that it's a bit difficult to tell how old people in Remnant are. One upperclassman was maybe a year older than you but was a good two feet taller. "It doesn't matter how young the guy looks if he's actually like a thousand years old."
"But what if he's got another soul?"
"Hmm?"
"Eh, I was halfway through a book about a man with two souls when I got to Beacon. One old man died and wound up sharing a soul with a young man."
"Ok, I'm losing the thread on soul politics here…" You also consider that Remnant is a world where a soul is a quantifiable thing; you remember a soul being a theory that was a concept and didn't have any defined proof and couldn't be calculated and was something that you theoretically felt but couldn't see and okay that's a headache…
Blake giggles, bringing you back to reality. "'Soul politics.' I like that. A good book title."
"Really?"
"No."
You narrow your eyes.
"What we're getting at is that you did a good thing." Blake tilts her head and smiles at you. "Thank you. There are too many times where people see things and do nothing. I'm happy you're one to intervene."
You blush and scratch your head. "Yeah… Just doing the right thing I guess. Plus it felt good to punch him."
"It should feel good to make us Faunus proud."
"Yeah."
…
…
…
Wait.
What?
"Wait, what?"
"What, what?"
You double-take at Blake. "You're… a Faunus?"
Blake blinks several times. After processing for a moment, she says, "Yes. I am?" Her tone is a mix of confusion and disbelief.
"Really?"
"Uh… yeah." Blake's ribbon twitches. "Did you not know that?"
"well that went completely over my head" you say, looking at Blake's very-clearly-animal-ear-resembling-bow and feeling stupid. "I had no idea." You suddenly remember that you still don't belong in this world. Had you lived as a Faunus from whenever you were born, you probably could have picked up that Blake was clearly too involved. She was always the first to counter Cardin when he said something racist, always the one to play both sides of the Human-Faunus conflicts, always the one to stand up for Faunus– because she is one.
Blake looks unsure if she was about to burst out laughing. "Well, at least I'm good at hiding it… Yes, I'm a Faunus." She glances around and, seeing nobody around, unfurls part of her bow to reveal a cat ear. "Did you really not know?"
"I want you to know I feel very stupid."
"If it's any consolation, my team still doesn't know. Of course, I'd rather you not tell them." Blake hides her ear again. Man… that was really obvious on second look.
"They don't know?"
"Nope. You know Weiss. She wouldn't handle it very well." Blake slows her pace, allowing you two to keep chatting while still heading to Ozpin's office. "I imagine it'll come out at some point. I swear Yang keeps trying to catch me changing."
"That sounds like her…"
"I mean, not that I'd say no, but I do wish she'd be a bit less… pervy about it."
Oh, wait, is Blake into girls? "You wouldn't say no?" you ask, trying not to lead her. "Like… because she's cute?"
"Mr. Redfield, Yang is an irritatingly attractive woman, and I KNOW you agree." Blake snickers. "Unless you think I didn't see you enjoying the view when she was bending over picking out clothes for you."
"I wasn't!" You look at Blake's, "There's no fooling me," face and say, "Ok, maybe I was."
Blake snickers. "Don't worry, I won't tell. Only because the reason I noticed you looking is that I was jealous of your view. Lucky you, getting her to like you so early."
"Wait, she likes me?"
"Likes you, yes. Like-likes you, uncertain. She did tell me about when you invited her and Ruby over to her room." Blake narrows her eyes and grins. "Pretty bold of you to invite two girls to your room after one day. *I* wasn't afforded such an exclusive invitation."
"Only because they…" You pause, remembering why Yang and Ruby were in your room during initiation. Blake's eyes narrow further when you finish, "…because they needed to change clothes."
"And here I thought you were shy."
"Come in!" you hear from behind a door. Thankfully, you and Blake reached Ozpin's office just as the conversation was leading towards your interest in Blake. Thanking your accidental father figure, you push open the door and walk in to see… crap, Glynda's there, too. There's also something oddly threatening about Ozpin's office, being made of pretty much just glass and massive gears.
"Ms. Belladonna, Mr. Redfield," Ozpin says, inviting you into his room to sit. "Please, come."
You and Blake move across the oddly large room to some chairs before Ozpin's desk. Ozpin, as ever, is cheerful-looking and sagely, but Glynda looks sterner and angrier than usual. You feel her eyes watch you as you take a seat. Ticking noises aggress your ears, grinding her scowl into you.
"I trust you know why you're here?"
Blake answers before you can. "I believe so, but please tell us anyway. I'd like to know your version of the story."
Ozpin smiles and sips his cocoa. Glynda manages to scowl more. "Young lady, I don't believe that's the–"
"Pr. Goodwitch," Ozpin states, firmly but monotone. "She raises a valid concern. Ms. Belladonna, I received a call from the outlet mall's security regarding you two. They reported an incident involving two young men, as well as you two. Said call also involved me being chastised by a woman who, judging by her tone, was rather upset with how the event was handled. I believe she was the mother of one of the boys."
Glynda rubs her temple. "'Did you two attack some young men earlier today?' is what he is asking."
"What I was told by the security force is that there was an altercation between the four of you. The woman claims that you attacked her son and his friend, though the security officer didn't agree or disagree. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear your side of the story now."
Blake looks at you and urges you forth. Looking at Ozpin (and trying to ignore Glynda), you explain, "We were at the mall waiting for some things to be done. We saw a lost Faunus girl, and then those two boys began bullying her. I stepped in, and Blake helped."
"'Stepped in,' meaning?"
"…Stepped in meaning I tackled him to the ground and began punching him."
"You what!?" Glynda shouts. You wince, partially from shame and partially because she's loud."
"He did so because the man was threatening the little girl."
"While I don't agree with that sort of behavior, there was no need to to get physically violent with him! If he wasn't attempting to harm her–"
"He was, Ms. Goodwitch," Blake says, far more confident than you. "For one, he was threatening to put her in a kennel, and then he tried grabbing her arm. That's when Briar stopped him. He had asked him to step away and warned him. I won't lie, I was about to do something similar if he hadn't."
Glynda sort of steams, her fury directing inwards because Blake told her she was wrong. She huffs, but can't exactly do anything.
"You can ask any of my team and they'll say the same. Briar only took action when he saw an adult attempt to violently grab a lost child."
"And you, Ms. Belladonna? Where do you fit in with this?"
"The other man attempted to attack Briar to get him off of his friend. I tripped him when he grabbed at his arm, but accidentally kicked him when he tried to stand." You do a double-take. Up until that point, everything had been true, but Blake didn't even blink at the thought of lying to her headmaster about that last bit; she 100% intentionally kicked the other boy in the face and just said she didn't. "The security officer appeared right after that."
Glynda continues to fume. You imagine she's so used to being right all the time that she didn't appreciate Blake saying that you were in fact highly justified. Ozpin, however, sips his cocoa and contemplates.
"Mr. Redfield. While I don't necessarily approve of how you handled the situation, I believe that you did the right thing. Ms. Belladonna, from what you said, you'd have done the same, which I also can't approve of. However, I am proud that you two are determined enough to protect those who need protection; that's one thing at Beacon we can't simply teach, though it is integral to our roles as Huntsman."
"You aren't going to let them off with a warning, are you?" Glynda scowls. "Whether or not they believe themselves justified, we can't simply let this sort of behavior slide. It's a bad reflection on our school!"
Ozpin raises a hand. "Don't worry, Glynda. I have a suitable punishment in mind. Now, unless you have anything to add, I can instruct these two on what they'll be doing. Dismissed."
"Understood." Glynda looks at you, unsure of what emotion to feel. You can't tell for sure, but you think that she does feel a bit of pride in you standing up for someone, but you think her need for order and rules trumps that significantly. "Please keep in mind that you are students of Beacon Academy. You represent our school wherever you go, and that reflects on us. If this had gone a different way, Beacon would be in the news being lambasted for having students that take matters into their own hands like vigilantes."
"Yes, Ms. Goodwitch," you and Blake say in unison.
Glynda lets out a breath and her face softens. Her sternness mostly lost, she begins stepping out of the room. Ozpin waits for the door to close behind her, the fishes for something behind his desk. "Now that Ms, Goodwitch has left us, I'll say that I fully believe you two. As a man, I am willing to overlook the extremes and commend you for your actions and intent. But, as a headmaster, I do have to punish you for them." He places two folders on his desk and slides the over to you. "In the future, if you're going to step in, I recommend not going quite so far, so as not to let it reach me again. Because I'm telling you this, your punishment is as follows; take these folders and deliver them to Pr. Peach's office."
You feel a weird mix of emotions. Ozpin was essentially telling you to do what you think is best, as long as it's subtle. Sure, you didn't need to go quite as far as beating that racist's face in, but Oz' only concern was that it was too public. He didn't seem to care and possibly even thought you were totally right. Either way, you'll be a bit less aggressive next time.
Blake takes the folders and asks, "That's it? Just deliver these?"
"And if Pr. Goodwitch asks, say I made you write a lengthy apology letter to the mother that called and made you serve two hours in my filing office."
"Thank you, sir," Blake says, nodding happily.
"Thank you, sir!" you say, nodding as well.
"You're welcome. Dismissed."
